


hold a moment

by qqtahng



Series: Princely Relations [1]
Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Gen, Post-Canon, Sibling Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-10
Updated: 2018-02-10
Packaged: 2019-03-16 04:09:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13628331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/qqtahng/pseuds/qqtahng
Summary: Corrin wasn’t used to problems she couldn’t solve with a swing of her sword.





	hold a moment

**Author's Note:**

> *finger guns* still havent played the games, still unbeta'd, sorry

A soothing quiet settled over Hoshido on a sunny afternoon. The usually bustling town square had settled to a low murmur of activity, occasionally interrupted by the twittering of a songbird.

Within the walls of Castle Shirasagi was no different. Today was one of those rare slow days in Hoshido. Everyone was content to remain indoors, napping or otherwise doing other relaxing activities.

Corrin, ever the productive person she was, did not pick up on that atmosphere as she let out yet another frustrated and strangled yell. That, apparently, was not enough of a deterrent for Takumi as he entered the lair of the dragon.

“Corrin, have you seen my shogi pieces? I can’t seem to f-” Takumi stopped mid-sentence as he gazed upon the scene in front of him. “What in the Rainbow Sage’s name are you doing?”

Corrin was sitting on the floor with a variety of objects ranging from small to tiny in size scattered about. In her right hand she was holding a pair of chopsticks rather clumsily, her left hand was holding a bowl brimming with the subject of Takumi’s search: shogi pieces.

“How did you even get those?! Give them back!” Takumi made to take the bowl from Corrin, all the while Corrin leaned away to keep the bowl from Tamuki’s grasp.

“Wait wait wait wait wait! I can explain! I can explain!”

Takumi made one last effort to grab the bowl before he huffed in frustration. Corrin held the bowl away from him for a few seconds longer before she was sure he wouldn’t try anything.

“Okay, we good here? We’re all calmed down now?”

“Corrin please just tell me what’s happening here. I want my pieces back.”

Corrin bit her lip, “Just… um… okay give me a second here to try to make this not sound stupid.”

Takumi sat down with his arms crossed and looked as if he didn’t mind waiting. That look wouldn’t last for long, as Corrin came to know. She supposed that the truth might as well come out.

“Okay okay so, you know when we eat meals as a family and I’m the only one using a fork and knife? That always felt really weird to me so I wanted to learn how to use chopsticks, yeah? I know all of you always say ‘oh, just do what feels best for you Corrin’ for well, literally anything I do ever, but this time both options felt weird. So I figured I might try to… de-wierdify? ...That’s not a word. Anyway, I figured I’d try to make one of options less awkward for me at least. So...”

“...You stole my shogi pieces to practice using chopsticks.” Takumi finished bluntly.

Corrin clapped her hands, “Yep! See, I’m glad you understand!”

Takumi still looked incredulous, “That doesn’t mean you can just take my stuff though!”

“But they’re literally the perfect size to practice picking stuff up with!” Corrin pouted, “C’mon, Takumi just lemme borrow them for a while longer?”

At that, Takumi closed his eyes and let out a groan, “You’re never going to get better at the rate you’re going though.” Corrin felt mildly offended at that.

“Wow, okay. I don’t think I’m that awful.”

“When I walked in you looked like you were about to skewer my game pieces. I’m not even sure what kind of grip you have going on there. Who holds chopsticks between their ring and pinky finger?”

“...Okay maybe I _am_ that awful,” Corrin said a little defensively, “But I just had a great idea.”

Takumi had a skeptical look on his face, “Does this involve turning into a dragon to solve your problems again? Because if it ends up like the peach incident again I’m not going to bail you out this time.”

“You promised to never bring that up agaaaaain….” Corrin hissed, “This idea is way better though I promise.”

“Well don’t just keep me on the edge of my seat, O wise Corrin. Please, share your brilliant plan with me.” Takumi’s voice dripped with sarcasm, but Corrin ignored it.

“You’re gonna teach me how to use these things!”

Takumi replied without missing a beat, “That is an awful idea.”

Corrin whined, “Aw, what! Why not?”

Takumi gave her a deadpan look, “Ryoma can do it? He’s way better at teaching you stuff. I’m just here to get my stuff before I leave for Nohr.”

“Yeah but Ryoma’s just gonna say something like ‘Well Corrin, you know you don’t have to change yourself for us right? I’ll do it if you really want me to but for now, please excuse me as I go find a brush that doesn’t break as soon as it makes contact with my hair.’” Corrin puffed her chest out and lowered her voice to do her best imitation of Ryoma. Takumi snickered, so she considered that to be a good one.

“He does go through a lot of brushes… The only ones that haven’t broken immediately were those combs made from ivory.”

“Yeah I got those right here. I tried picking them up earlier but they’re too thin.”

“You’re telling me you tried to pick up a comb using utensils we use to eat food with.”

“Hindsight is 20/20 dear brother. Now, what do you say to helping your favoritest sister?” She nudged him gently.

Takumi shoved her back playfully, “For the record, I don’t have a ‘favoritest sister’, and I’ll help but ONLY because I don’t see myself getting any of my pieces back within the next hour otherwise.”

Corrin punched her fist into the air, “Yessss! Success! Now! Where do we begin, O Great Takumi-sensei?”

“Okay that’s a little weird so, start by not saying that. After you call my by my normal name, then you should fix your grip on those so your knuckles don’t go white everytime you try to pick a pair up. There’s no universal right way, but I generally grip mine like I’d grip a calligraphy brush. Like this.”

Takumi motioned for her to hand over the chopsticks. Corrin obliged easily. He then held them in a way that certainly looked less forceful than the way she had been gripping them.

Corrin placed her hand under her chin as she watched with exaggerated interest, “Ah, hm. Interesting.”

Takumi rolled his eyes, “Okay you ass, now you try it. Oh, but first tap them on the table - or floor in this case - to get them even.”

Corrin took the utensils back and tapped them once, twice, against the floor to align the sticks. She then tried replicating the way Takumi held them. “Like this?”

“There we go,” Takumi nodded approvingly.

“Nice! This is progress! How do I move them now?”

“That’s a little harder to explain… Um… okay, you see how your thumb and index finger are positioned like that? Try moving your thumb up and down while using your index finger to keep the top chopstick stable.”

Corrin obliged as best she could.

“Ah, shit!”, One of them slipped out of her grasp.

Takumi picked it up and gave it back to her, “Okay. Well, you also have to keep the other stick stable.”

“Right, right,” Corrin supposed that should’ve been obvious, but in her defense, she was concentrating pretty hard on Takumi’s earlier instructions. Concentrating a little bit too hard.

Corrin attempted the action once again, with more success this time around.

“I moved it! Takumi I’m moving it!”

Takumi winced, “Yes I can see that, no need to shout when I’m right here.”

“Sorry!” Corrin said excitedly and no less loudly. Corrin was not sorry.

“Great, okay. Now that you can firmly grasp them without looking like you’re about to murder someone,” Takumi looked around the room, seemingly searching for something. His eyes lit up when he spotted some of the various ribbons Corrin had laying around her room. He picked one up and tied it into a ball-like knot. “Here, try picking this up instead. It’s easier to pick up softer things than hard ones.”

Corrin took a deep breath, “Okay, okay. I can do this.”

“Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this focused.”

“Shhhhhh! I’m _concentrating_ here!”

Corrin steadied her hand and repeated the motions Takumi had instructed her with earlier. She looked to see if her grip was okay, tapped the chopsticks to align them, and reached for the hair ribbon. It took a few tries to grasp properly, but she managed to do it in the end.

“TAKUMI LOOK!” Corrin waved her success in front of his face.

“YES CORRIN. I THOUGHT I SAID NO MORE YELLING.” Takumi replied. Then, in a lower voice, “Congrats. You now know the basics of handling chopsticks. Can I have my stuff now?”

“Wait what do you mean basics? What else is there? Tell me right now Takumi I need to know.”

“Well, if you become really good you can use them like throwing knives. Impromptu weapons.” He made a throwing motion, “Just _fwoosh,_ and then your enemies have a pointy stick lodged in their head.”

She pushed him, “Oh ha-ha very funny.”

Takumi’s face darkened, “You think I’m joking but have you seen Saizo or Kagero get ambushed while eating? Have you? Because it’s kind of amazing what they can pull off armed with a pair of chopsticks and a bowl.”

“Oh.” Corrin said blankly, “Well, I don’t think I’ll be able to reach those levels anytime soon.”

“None of us will. But,” Takumi stood up, “I’ll be taking my stuff back now. Just keep practicing that motion and soon enough you can get rid of forks and knives.”

Corrin also stood up and hugged Takumi, “Thank you Takumi! I’ll keep practicing and when you come back I’ll be the best at it!”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m sure you will.” He pat her head, “Now please Corrin, I leave tomorrow and I still have a lot of stuff I need to organize.”

“Oh boo, you mood killer. Well here’s your pieces. You’d better write often though! And tell me how everyone else is doing once you get there!” Corrin made an exaggerated pouty face.

“Of course, sister. I’m sure everyone will send their regards.”

Takumi collected what was his and turned to leave. Before he left the room completely, he turned.

“Before I forget, why are there holes in your floor?”

“...Aha, well… you know when you get angry and you just throw stuff in your rage?”

“...You somehow slammed a pair of chopsticks down at the perfect angle and velocity to get them lodged in the floor.”

Corrin snapped her fingers, “Bingo!”

Takumi’s face was expressionless. He pinched the bridge of his nose, “Just, keep practicing.”

Corrin beamed, “That, I can do.”

**Author's Note:**

> yeah i may have made corrin a bit too temperamental but like. thats why creative liberties are a thing right ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ


End file.
